so where has theleila been lately? well folks, she's been busy that's for sure. athfest, deadline, paste's big party with acura (above, with my best mate amanda), corndogorama - it's been a mad few weeks. not to mention the fact that my handy-dandy canon powershot got soaked by a rogue water bottle in my handbag while i was in england at the beginning of may, and though it was sent off to canon to be repaired i only just found out a few days ago that it was unfixable, so i just replaced it and now have lovely pictures from the last few days. which were, as all you atlantans know, taken up by cooooorndoooogooraaaaaamaaaaa!

the shit hot boys of handsome jack, with their phenomenal drummer who landed somewhere between the muppets' animal and the who's keith moon. did i say shit hot already?

more handsome jack!

just to further illustrate the shit hottness of this band, especially the drummer.

these guys were the only band to play all three days of corndogorama. they were on tour but, thanks to the mad gas prices, they were kinda stuck for a while. buy a record from these guys - i did!

the band won one of our community speakers that southeast performer was giving away. hurrah for free stuff for bands!

am so happy to be taking the day off today, since the weekend was seriously knackering. am still in my pjs and it's 1:17 p.m. mmmmmm. will be walking crazy puppy tara, doing some yoga and maybe (just maybe) cleaning the kitchen for the first time in months (yikes).

for those of you who don't know tesco, it's a supermarket chain in england, similar to kroger or walmart, but with better food and better practices. seems that they're still pretty conservative when it comes to the music in their commercials though, as the nme reports:Black Lips' Tesco advert pulled at last minuteSupermarket concerned about religious references

Black Lips have claimed that their music was set to feature in an advert for Tesco, until the supermarket cancelled it over concerns with the lyrical content.

The advert, which was reportedly made, was soundtracked by the American band's track 'Veni Vidi Vici', taken from their 2007 album 'Good Bad Not Evil'.

However, the song's references to religious figures led Tesco to pull the advert.

Speaking to Pitchfork, vocalist Cole Alexander said: "They [Tesco] were gonna do an advertisement and they listened to the lyrics of 'Veni Vidi Vici' and they got cold feet and pulled the plug on the ad."

Bassist Jared Swilley added: "They took it away because we mentioned Muhammad and Jesus."

those crazy kids. talkin' about jebus. that's no way to get your song on tv.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

here it is. something us dorky potter-ites have been hoping to get since book 7 hit shelves. another glimpse into the world of jk rowling's magical world courtesy of the author herself. authors like rowling, irvine welsh and tom stoppard each wrote a short story on a piece of paper which were sold at auction yesterday. ms jk's piece raised almost $50,000 for charity.

being the big dork that i am, i preordered the special postcard book with all the stories weeks ago, so hopefully i'll have my own copy in my hands any day now. but for those who aren't as big a dork as me but still want to read the short-but-sweet prequel to harry's own story, here it is, in all it's difficult-to-read, hand-written glory.

to read the other stories or to buy yourself the postcard book, click here to visit waterstone's website.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

i'm so baffled right now. apparently my fave author of all time, who usually restricts her appearances to those related to books, children, charity and media will be at harvard to celebrate... a wireless router?

here's the press release. see what you make of it.

Hogwarts Square Invokes "Aparecium! "

Harvard Square will be transformed once again to "Hogwarts Square" on June 4th to welcome our guest J.K. Rowling and to set the scene for an announcement connecting one and all in "Aparecium" (the spell that makes invisible ink appear.)

Harvard Square, Cambridge - At 4:00 p.m, Wednesday June 4th in front of the "Hogwarts Square" sign on the Out of Town News building, the Harvard Square Business Association will summon a new era of connectivity for muggles and wizards alike.

The medium for this timely message is the "2007 Popular Science Grand Award Winning Meraki," a wireless router that can stretch a single wired internet connection for miles or in this case around the diagonal streets and alleyways of Harvard Square.

Like the owls of Hogwarts, the Meraki is snow white and perched throughout Harvard Square rooftops and windows to bring lines of communication to all attuned.

For the past several months the Harvard Square Business Association in collaboration with the City of Cambridge, Harvard University, Harvard Square Business Owners and Property Owners have all worked together with Meraki and Anaptyx to provide FREE OUTDOOR PUBLIC WIRELESS ACCESS to the people!

Switch on your laptop, cell phone, or pocket PC and click on the Harvard Square access point to connect worldwide to friends and family, local and international news, Harvard Square daily news and events, or to blog, twitter, flicker and/or youtube your point of view.

Join us at 4:00 p.m. in front of the "Hogwarts Square" sign on the Out of Town News Kiosk for a press announcement with Special Guests from the City of Cambridge, Harvard University, and representatives from Meraki and Anaptyx.

For more information about Harvard Square businesses and events www.harvardsquare.com

For more information about Meraki www.meraki.com & Anaptyx www.anaptyx.comPictures available upon request.

i mean... weird right? doesn't it seem just bizarre that she would be there, raising a glass to internet connectivity for all? is the link something to do with "the magic of internet" or something? did i miss something in the press release? i've read it like three times, just to make sure there isn't something to do with, oh i don't know, a book or something.